No decision on control of home incarceration

The court hearing Wednesday to decide who should temporarily control Bullitt County’s home incarceration program boiled down to one argument — which department has the right to operate it.

Representatives for Jailer Martha Knox, County Attorney Monica Robinson, Sheriff Dave Greenwell and Bullitt Fiscal Court spent about 1½hours arguing before Bullitt Circuit Judge Rodney Burress about whether a fee increase is causing harm to convicts using the program and whether the program should have been transferred from the jailer to the county attorney and sheriff’s offices through an ordinance, not a resolution.

But Burress said the arguments were not important at the hearing. The only decision to be made was if the jailer’s rights were violated, he said. If they were violated, the judge could issue her office temporary control of the home incarceration program until a trial decides who should oversee it permanently.

Burress said Wednesday that he will wait to receive an additional document from the defendants before making a decision.

Knox filed a lawsuit against Robinson, Greenwell and Bullitt Fiscal Court in October after county officials authorized the sheriff to oversee the program, which had been under the jailer’s control since it started 14 years ago.

Fiscal Court moved the program to the sheriff’s office Aug. 6. Minutes from that meeting say Fiscal Court members approved the change for the safety of program participants who would no longer have to travel “across county” from the courthouse to the detention center to register for it. Robinson later added that a report from her office showed many offenders who had been assigned to the program had never registered for it, nor had they received monitoring equipment.

At the hearing Wednesday, Greenwell’s attorney John Spainhour said the resolution transferring the program from the jailer to the sheriff’s office was in response to a perceived emergency. He admitted there is confusion about whether the resolution is permanent or if it will end in January once a new Fiscal Court takes over.

Knox’s attorney Eric Farris said the resolution illegally transferred the program because state law requires it to be done through an ordinance, which is permanent.

Farris also argued that Knox’s rights were violated because she took an oath to perform her constitutional duties, which include overseeing the home incarceration program.

However, Spainhour and Carol Petit, representing Fiscal Court, Robinson and Greenwell, said Knox has not established that her rights have been violated and asked Burress not to temporarily transfer the program. Instead, he should wait until the trial decides who will control it.

“There’s little reason to upset the operation,” Spainhour said.

Reporter Bailey Loosemore can be reached at (502) 582-4646. Follow her on Twitter at @bloosemore.